Check yourself (Opinion)

Would detailed background and mental health checks required for buying guns not prevent more school shootings in a country where 1 in 5 adults, 43.8 million people, experience mental health issues in one year? When not even half of the adults in the U.S. receive mental health services, it’s absurd that some are blaming the recent Florida school shooting on the shooter’s mental health.

Would gun control not help decrease the number of school shootings that have been happening about twice a month for 8 years? 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School with a semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifle and shot through hallways and classrooms on all three stories. It was legal for him to own that long gun (but not to buy alcohol) at 18 years old, and in 30 states, there’s no minimum age. No minimum age. Does it not sound deranged that a child can legally possess a long gun, and there’s nothing we’ve done about it up to this point?

If you wanted a gun for protection for you and your family, why would you need an assault rifle and not just a pistol or revolver? We couldn’t know if our Founding Fathers in 1787 would have agreed with the Second Amendment if they knew that, much later in 1944, there would be assault rifles that don’t take a moment to reload. If that was still the case, maybe Cruz could’ve been stopped earlier.

Why are the teenagers of America standing up to gun violence and not the politicians with power to do something? In one school in Houston, teens are being threatened with suspension if they perform a peaceful protest, which violates their First Amendment right to walkout during school. If our politicians aren’t doing anything about gun control, and the brave teens’ rights are suppressed, how are we going to fix this problem?

Why is the Parkland, Florida shooting about the 281st school shooting since 1990? It’s not normal, and everyone outside the States knows it. They learn from their mistakes and make a change to their laws and country. Even blameless elementary-aged children, who deserve to be carefree, playing on playgrounds and fingerpainting, worry if they’ll have to go into lockdown because of yet another a shooting threat.